Sarah Newberry and Matthew Whitehead
(Both Former Multihull Junior Champion) of Miami, Florida convincingly
won the F16 Class at the 2012 Tradewinds Midwinter Open Cat Nationals
held at Founders Park Watersports at Founders Park in Islamorada, Florida
in three days of racing over Martin Luther King Weekend.
The annual event drew 70 high-speed, high-tech beach catamarans from
all around the USA, as well as top world-class sailors, including Olympic
Medalist Pease Glaser of Long Beach, California. US Sailing, the governing body of all sailboat racing in the United States,
selected the Tradewinds Regatta as its selection regatta for U.S. Youth
Multihull World Qualifier, and for the U.S. Youth Multihull Championship,
and the selection of the top two teams for development for the next Sailing
Olympics.

There were six classes at this huge winter event for cats: the largest
class was the F16 with 23 boats. The winner of the largest class wins
the Carlton Tucker Memorial Trophy, a metal sculptured spinnaker boat
on a huge wooden base.

Other
classes were the F18 and Nacra20 that sailed on the Gold Course for high-speed,
spinnaker boats. On the Orange Course there were the Hobie 16s, Waves
and Open Class.

The class of boat used for the event was the F16 catamaran. There are
a number of manufacturers and all must build the boats all to the same
specs. These extremely fast catamarans reach speeds over 30 mph in ideal
conditions. And the conditions were ideal over this past weekend. Even
though Friday was windless, Saturday and Sunday had winds around 20 mph
and higher. These boats were literally flying around the buoyed courses.

Winning the F16 Youth Championship were Jeremy Herrin and Same Armington
of Sarasota, Florida winning by 10 points over Ben Brown and Luc Lisi
of San Francisco, California, and rounding out the Podium was Joseph
Bello and Shelby Brown of Fort Walton Beach, Florida.
Winning the selection for the Olympic Development team was former Junior
Champ, Sarah Newberry and Matthew Whitehead of Miami, Florida, winning
convincingly over Past Olympic Gold Medalist, Pease Glaser, of Huntington
Beach, California with John Williams Crewing. Third spot went to Mike
Easton and McKenzie Wilson from Lexington, Massachusetts.

The Races:
Friday was a bust for the Gold Course. There seemed to be absolutely
no wind on this course set farther off shore than the Orange Course.
On that course three fleets started in winds between 4 and 5 mph, but
soon the wind backed off to two. A breeze would fill in once in a while
and appear to be a nice fresh new air that would stick around. But it
didn’t. The RC shortened the course, but did get in one race.
Saturday brought cooler weather, but very good wind. It was measured
between 18-20 mph and stayed that way all day. Being on the Bay Side
of the Florida Keys, the seas are relatively flat to what they would
be on the Ocean Side. These are perfect conditions for catamaran sailing.
And the venue cannot be beaten anywhere. How can you beat sunny skies,
aqua-clear water, average winds of 15 mph and flat seas? You can’t!

Both courses got in a total of nine races for the weekend – the
Gold Course had 5 races on Saturday and 4 more on Sunday; the Orange
Course were one on Friday, Four on Saturday and Four on Sunday. The F16 Fleet:
Sarah Newberry/Matthew Whitehead started Saturday off with a bang, nailing
3 bullets out of five races, and holding a one point lead over Junior
Champ Taylor Reiss/Brianna Chu. Close behind these two teams was Mike
Easton and McKenzie Wilson. Pease Glaser and John Williams were back
in 4th place, and Annie Garnder (Nelson) and Ereic Witte rounded out
the top five.

Newberry lit it up again on Sunday starting off with two aces, a 3rd
and then threw out her worst finish of 5th, taking an eight point lead
over Glaser/Williams who managed to stay with the top group of sailors
and finish up with a first place finish. Easton/Wilson made the podium
by one point over Reiss/Chu, Gardner/Witte settling for 5th place overall.

This class was also for the US Sailing Youth Championship. Jeremy Herrin
and Sam Armington of Sarasota, Florida took first place in the Juniors,
and was 7th place overall in the class. Ben Brown and Luc Lisi of San
Francisco were ten points behind and took 2nd place, and in the overall
score were 9th. Joseph Bello and Shelby Brown of Ft Walton Beach took
the final podium spot, and were 12th place overall.

Here are the Youth WinnersThe F18 Class
The F18 Class was the second largest class, and there was no contest
in this one. John Tomko and Ian Billings came from Texas and showed everyone
how Texans do it. Seven out of nine bullets for the regatta. The ones
he didn’t win were two second place finishes. Yes, they do it big
in Texas.

Brett Moss and Kenny Pierce of Miami, Florida were in second spot, with
10 points, six points behind Tomko/Billings. Holding down third spot
after Saturday’s races Robbie Daniel and Gary Chu were seven point
behind the leaders, and only one point behind Moss and Pierce.
Also in the running were Alex Shafer/Laura Mum, Jake Kohl/Mike Krant,
and Dave Ingram/Mark Herendeen.
On Sunday, Tomko/Billings did not let up – three more aces and
a deuce. Moss/Pierce averaged second place finishes and easily took second,
15 points ahead of Kohl/Krantz. Shafer/Mum and Ingram/Herendeen rounded
out the top five. Daniel/Chu did not race on Saturday, dashing any hopes
of the podium.The Wave Class.
Ray Matuszak from Put-in-Bay, Ohio completely dominated this aggressive
class, taking 6 bullets in nine races. His first race was his worst – a
5th. After that, he never got farther back than second place. Two-time
past National Champ, Leah White was a bit overpowered (she is rather
petite) was holding on to a slim 2-point lead over Mike Phillips. This
was Phillips first time on a Wave and was doing very well against some
very talented sailors. Mark Scarpelli, also from Put-in-Bay, was in fourth
place, and Mike Powers and John Sherry were tied up for 5th place.

Matuszak continued in his winning ways and won by 13 points over White.
Phillips held on to 3rd place. Rounding out the top were Sherry in
4th place and Scarpelli taking fifth.Hobie 16
It was awesomely close racing in this tough class. Old-timer Bob Johnson
and Joanna Lienti started off with a bang by winning the race on Friday.
But, the only raced one more race, not starting the last seven.
By beer time on Saturday, Ken Hilk/Gina McDonald had a slim one-point
lead over Mike Montague and Kathy Ward, who had a one-point lead over
Sean and Kathleen Tracy, who in turn had a one-point lead over Wally
Myers and Sharon Woodruff. Do you get the Point?

It was anyones regatta on Sunday, but Montague/Ward knocked off some
great starts and took three bullets and a second to capture the title
by four points over Hilk/McDonald. The Tracys took 3rd spot and Myers/Woodruff
settled for fourth, with Mark Jones and Pam Moss in 5th place

N20
Only three boat showed up this year. Strangely a few years back they
were the largest fleet and won the Carlton Tucker Memorial Trophy. Trey
Brown and Bailey White took all bullets and retire for the last race.
Steve Lohmayer and Jay Sonnenklar were second and Patrick Pettengil and
Joe Podeva were third.
Open Class
There were only three boats in the Open Class as well. It was won by
Emiliano Oddo/Oscar Garcia-Coni/Ivan Loya on a Stiletto 23. Kelly Davis
was winning with his Hobie 17, but he kept breaking down and could not
sail the last two races. Third went to Hans Evers/Laurens Schouten Evers
on a Hobie 20

The regatta was hosted by Founders Park Water Sports, Catamaran Sailor
Magazine, www.catsailor.com, www.OnLineMarineStore.com, RedGearRacing.com
and Catamaran Assn. Of Biscayne Bay. The event has been held annually
over the MLK Weekend for almost 20 years. For more information you can
contact rick@catsailor.com
Be sure to start preparations now for next year.., same time, same place – ML
King Weekend at Founder Park Watersports.
For Notice of Race for 2013, here is the Link; http://www.catsailor.com/Tradewinds.html